Mike Johnson Prevails With Epic Turn in Speaker Drama

WASHINGTON — House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., retained his hold on the speaker’s gavel Friday, seizing victory from the jaws of defeat in what was nothing short of a stunning first-round vote.

With one vote to spare, Johnson needed 218 votes to be named speaker of the 119th Congress, but as voting began shortly before 12:30 p.m. Friday, he simply didn’t have the support he needed.

With all of the Democrats in the chamber committed to voting for their leader, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, of New York, three Republicans voted for someone other than Johnson and seven Republicans didn’t vote for anyone the first time their names were called in the roll call vote.

Though all seven voted for Johnson the second time their names were called, the three dissenters, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Keith Self, R-Texas, initially remained “no” votes.

Massie had voted for House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, of Minnesota, while Norman voted for Rep. Jim Jordan, of Ohio, and Self, for Rep. Byron Donalds, of Florida.

At that point the vote tally in the well of the House stood at 216 for Johnson, and 215 for Jeffries.

Johnson initially looked crestfallen and Emmer announced a second vote was pending.

Before that happened, however, Johnson gathered Norman and Self and asked to speak with them outside the chamber.

When the trio returned, Norman and Self conferred with the House clerk, who was overseeing the election, and changed their votes to Johnson.

While no one yet knows what was said out of earshot and out of view of the cameras of C-SPAN — it’s said the two holdouts took a call from President-elect Donald Trump — Johnson was able to walk directly to Jeffries and tell him the voting was over.

The final count of the speaker’s vote was Johnson 218, Jeffries 215, and Emmer one.

Self later addressed his initial vote and his about-face in a post on the X social media platform.

“My sole focus was advancing the Trump agenda,” he said. “To ensure this, I expressed concerns for Speaker Johnson about fiscal responsibility and holding the line on deficit spending — key priorities for my constituents.

“After receiving firm assurances from the speaker, that Republicans in the House will have strong representation during the budget reconciliation process — a cornerstone of President Trump’s agenda — I changed my initial vote.

“I appreciate Speaker Johnson addressing these critical issues,” Self added.

As for Trump, he immediately took to his own Truth Social social media platform after the vote to congratulate Johnson for “receiving an unprecedented vote of confidence in Congress.”

“Mike will be a Great Speaker, and our Country will be the beneficiary,” Trump said. “The People of America have waited four years for Common Sense, Strength, and Leadership. They’ll get it now, and America will be greater than ever before!”

After a ceremonial walk to the speaker’s chair, Johnson gave a lengthy speech, thanking his supporters and outlining his agenda for the next Congress.

“It’s the great honor of my life to serve this body,” he said.

After requesting a moment of silence for the victims of this week’s terror attack in New Orleans, Louisiana, Johnson introduced his wife Kelly and their four children.

“She didn’t make it the last time,” he said as he urged his wife to stand and recalled his sudden elevation to speaker in 2023.

As he asked the couple’s children to stand, Johnson observed that there are no perks to being a congressman’s kid. 

“It’s all sacrifice. And our spouses put up with so much,” he said. “It’s good to remind them, I could not do the job without them.”

With that, Johnson turned his attention to what he described as “a momentous time in our nation.”

“In recent months, we’ve witnessed something happening, something that’s really remarkable … a groundswell of Americans from every state, race and religion, who now demand that we put the interest of Americans first again. And we will,” he said.

“In coordination with President Trump,” he said, the next Congress will “secure the border and deport dangerous, criminal illegal aliens … we will bring an end to high inflation and we will extend the Trump tax cuts.”

Johnson went on to vow that the Republican-led chamber would protect American industries from one-sided trade deals and “bring overseas investment back to the American shores.”

“We will defeat the harmful effects of inflation and make life affordable again for America’s hard-working people,” he said.

On the energy front, Johnson said the new Congress would “stop the attacks of natural gas … and eliminate the funding for the Green New Deal. … We’re going to expedite new drilling permits and we’re going to save the jobs of our auto manufacturers by ending the ridiculous EV mandates.”

“As heirs to the American Revolution and the descendants of patriots, we are going to end the tyranny of the administrative state by drastically cutting back the size and scope of government,” Johnson said.

“We’re going to return the power back to the people … and we are going to create a leaner, faster and more efficient federal workforce. We need to do that,” he said.

“The American people have called on us to reject business as usual and throw out the status quo. We must and we will heed their call,” he added.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue